SC Museum will close for renovations

(Press Staff Photo by Benjamin Fisher)New Silver City Museum Store Manager Melody Collins straightens the frame of a painting in an exhibit in the museum’s front room, which will become the new museum gift shop following a renovation during the first three weeks in January, during which the museum will be closed.

Beginning on Jan. 1, the Silver City Museum will be closed for three weeks for renovations and will reopen Jan. 21, with a grand reopening party planned for March.

Improvements will include refinishing the wood floors, moving the gift shop to a front gallery space, and making the current gift shop space into an education and activity room.

In order to refinish the floors, which includes pulling up some carpet that is near the front of the building, Curator of Collections Jackie Becker will oversee the careful movement of historical artifacts to the back portions of the museum, on the other side of a connecting hallway.

When order is restored, Museum Director Carmen Vendelin looks forward to having guests “enter through the gift shop” and be greeted from a relocated reception desk in full view of the door.

One major improvement will be the new education and activity room. It will include activities for children, as well as interactive and informational materials for all ages. Museum Educator Andie Portillo will also be able to host hands-on activities in this room.

“I’m really excited about it because right now we’re doing most of our activities in the museum kitchen,” said Portillo.

Portillo said the museum is also planning to create an adult section with a reading table, museum interpretation materials, books, and wall panels with supplemental information. She envisions a family friendly space.

The museum is slated for an official grand reopening on March 18 to unveil the new features, following a week of daily children’s activities during spring break to inaugurate the new educational space.

Though the museum will not be opened during the first three weeks of January, it will host speaker Cynthia Bettison in the Museum Annex at noon on Jan. 12. She will speak on Mimbres women as part of a series in support of the museum’s current exhibition, “Stories of Southwestern New Mexico Women.”

Saturday, Dec. 31, will be the last day to see the exhibition “Arte Chicano de San Vicente: Reflections of the Chicano Community in Silver City.”

The Silver City Museum will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2017. Look for more events in the coming months.

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(Press Staff Photos by Benjamin Fisher)

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New Silver City Museum Store Manager Melody Collins adjusts items on the store’s shelves on Thursday. The gift shop will soon be relocated to the front room of the museum following a renovation during the first three weeks of January, when the museum will be closed.

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The Silver City Museum’s foyer will receive a facelift as part of a January remodel which will move the museum’s store to the first room visible through the doorway.